Intimate images of Carla Bruni stolen from ex-lover

Up to a hundred intimate family photos of Carla Bruni and an ex-lover have been stolen from a Paris apartment.

Carla Bruni: This is the third time this year that those linked to President Nicolas Sarkozy have been burgled in Paris.Photo: AP

By Henry Samuel in Paris

3:43PM BST 28 Apr 2009

Burglars stole a laptop containing photos of Mrs Bruni-Sarkozy, a digital camera and video material from the home of Julien Enthoven, the brother of the first lady's former lover, Raphael.

The photos reportedly show her and Raphael with their nine-year-old son, Aurélien, while others show the pair at family occasions.

The intruders broke into the flat in rue Dauphine, in Paris' chic 6th arrondissement, via a window.

This is the third time this year that those linked to President Nicolas Sarkozy have been burgled in Paris.

In February the home of the Mr Sarkozy's brother, François was raided, and a week earlier half-a-million pounds worth of designer jewellery was taken from the apartment of Cecilia Attias, the President's second wife.

But police said that they did not believe the robbers had any idea about the contents of their booty.

"It was a banal burglary. Everything that was digital was stolen as is often the case," said a spokesman.

The then Miss Bruni met Raphael, a philosopher who was married at the time, while going out with his father, Jean-Paul Enthoven in 2001.

But they separated six years later, with Raphael complaining that she was not sufficiently committed. His ex-wife, Justine Levy – the daughter of Bernard-Henri Levy, the media philosopher – later wrote a revenge novel about a former supermodel who seduces another women's husband. The character is described as a "praying mantis" and a "leech of a woman with a Terminator smile".

Mrs Bruni-Sarkozy's ex-lovers include British rock stars Mick Jagger and Eric Clapton, as well as Donald Trump, the US tycoon, and a number of other public figures.

A nude picture taken during her supermodel days, was released on the eve of a state visit to Britain last year. Since then, she has sought to portray a more demure image. It is not thought any of the stolen photos were compromising.

Their theft occurred on the night before the presidential couple arrived in Spain, where Mrs Bruni-Sarkozy has hit the headlines as a fashion rival to Princess Letizia.